Sununu asks voters for second term on N.H. Executive Council

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories about candidates in major races in the November general election.

By Jim Haddadin

jhaddadin@fosters.com

DOVER — Republican Chris Sununu defended his record on the Executive Council and touted his strong working relationship with Democratic Gov. John Lynch during a meeting with the editorial board of Foster’s Daily Democrat Thursday.

Sununu, a Newfields resident, said the all-Republican council took a philosophical stance to promote fiscal discipline during his first term in office, but it has worked in a nonpartisan way to advance the state’s interests.

“At the end of the day, I will defend every vote I’ve ever taken,” Sununu said, adding, “I think we are tough. We’re fair, but we’re tough.”

Sununu was a political newcomer in 2010 when he challenged Democratic incumbent Beverly Hollingworth, of Hampton, for the District 3 seat. Sununu prevailed during an election year that saw conservative voters ousting well-established left-leaning veterans in favor of those running on a platform of fiscal constraint. He beat Hollingworth by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent.

Sununu, an engineer and Exeter business owner, has the political advantage of carrying a widely recognized surname in the Granite State. His father, John H. Sununu, served three terms as governor, and was the chief of staff for President George H.W. Bush.

As an executive councilor, one of Sununu’s primary functions during the past two years has been vetting appointees to a host of state and judicial offices. Sununu said he’s determined there are “pretty good people” serving in the state’s top roles, and gave specific praise to Health and Human Services Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas.

“God bless Nick Toumpas,” he said of the DHHS commissioner, whose department is among the largest in state government, and has been faced with a host of complex challenges during the past two years.

Sununu said he’s been chastised by some Republicans for voting to approve Lynch appointees. However, Sununu said the council has worked with Lynch to vet candidates in advance of public votes to avoid embarrassing candidates who don’t fit the bill.

One Lynch appointee whose tenure in state government was cut short by a vote of the Executive Council was former consumer advocate Meredith Hatfield. Sununu’s Democratic opponent in the 2012 election, Bill Duncan, criticized Sununu this week for casting a vote against Hatfield, saying the decision not to reappoint her to the post was driven by ideology.

Sununu responded that he didn’t have “some sort of political bent” motivating the vote, but conceded he disagreed with Hatfield’s support for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and believed her political beliefs were “leaking into her decision making.”

“You could call that political,” he said. “I call it financial.”

Duncan also criticized Sununu for casting one of the three votes that helped to sink a proposed study of commuter railroad options in the state’s central corridor earlier this year. Explaining his vote, Sununu said he doesn’t oppose railroad transportation, but the $300 million investment required to establish a working railroad line to Concord made it difficult for him to imagine the project would come to fruition in the next five to 10 years.

Carrying through on the project in the future would also likely require the state to pay for an updated railroad study, Sununu said, making a study at this time a poor choice.

“Whether you love trains or hate trains, it just doesn’t make financial sense,” he said.

Asked to comment on a spate of controversy at the New Hampshire Liquor Commission, Sununu said he feels the Executive Council wasn’t briefed early enough this year on the “chaos” unfolding there.

In one high-profile instance of disorder, about $100,000 worth of wine went missing from a state-run liquor outlet in Portsmouth. The wine had no invoice or paperwork with it, and days later it was gone, with no indication of where it went.

The enforcement division of the state Liquor Commission began an investigation a few days later. But the division took months to issue a finding, and when it finally did in mid-April, it was clear the investigation wasn’t comprehensive, commission chair Joe Mollica told WMUR.

Mollica said the commission brought the case before the Rockingham County attorney’s office, which found it inconclusive.

In June, state Attorney General Michael Delaney briefed the state executive council and Gov. John Lynch on the case.

“We were blind-sided by the whole thing,” Sununu said Thursday, “which led us to one conclusion. There has to be some fundamental changes over there, without a doubt.”

With Lynch approaching the end of his final term as governor, and with the New Hampshire House of Representatives preparing to release a report on the liquor commission, Sununu said executive councilors felt it would be advantageous to wait a few months before discussing how to bring oversight back into the hands of the council.

“I’m excited to see what comes out of the report in early November from the House — what changes they’re going to recommend,” Sununu said.

Discussing his relationship with Lynch, Sununu said the popular, four-term governor has called the current Executive Council one of the best he’s worked with. Sununu said councilors have taken seriously their obligation to vet state contracts, as evidenced by the number of split votes that have been rendered by the all-Republican council.

“I find (executive councilor) to be one of the most nonpartisan, or political, jobs you can have in state government,” he said. “That’s why I enjoy it so much.”